How many drinks does it take to get to a blood alcohol level of .08%, the national legal limit for driving? What if, as the National Transportation Safety Board recommends, states lower the legal driving limit to .05%? And how dangerous is driving with a BAC of .08% compared to being tired, on sleep medication, or driving distracted?

Check out this informational video, created by the Serenity Insurance Group, for answers!

We’re glad this video brought up the NTSB recommendation to lower the legal driving limit, which has proven to be controversial even among groups focused on the same goal of reducing drunk driving related crashes.

As shown in the video, it’s estimated that lowering the legal driving limit to .05% could save up to 800 lives per year. Many European nations saw alcohol-related fatalities drop by half within 10 years of lowering the standard. But took 20 years after the NTSB recommended a blood alcohol limit of .08% in 1982 for every state to adopt it. The leaders of Mothers Against Drunk Driving are concerned that another prolonged campaign to lower the legal limit even further will detract attention from other measures, such as high visibility enforcement and ignition interlock requirements, which may be more effective.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has said that individual states should be responsible for taking the lead and implementing the changes if they see fit. So far, only Washington, South Carolina, and New York have considered legislation to lower the limit.